What do we all want from our footy club? First, sustained success. And nothing else is remotely close. It’s daylight second. We want the club to win flags. But at any cost?
A few years back Cronulla were scratching for a jumper sponsor. An online dating agency pounced, offering a lucrative sponsorship. Catch: they specialised in extra-marital affairs. Cronulla said no. Did they go on to win the premiership proudly sponsored by the RSPCA or a local orphanage? I don’t think so. But I think they made the right call.
When people are asked why they love Richmond, people frequently mention the jumper. It’s a beautiful thing. The club have a video of 100 years of the sash – and it’s really inspiring. All the guernseys look so clean on the old footage, pre-sponsorship. But as long ago as the 1980 premiership we had the first logo sneak on, Tetley. Here is Newy talking about how the players feel about the jumper.
I’d like to do a business case for returning to a clean Richmond guernsey. Nothing on the sash. No green Bingle on the back. Straight away of course the club loses income, but let’s have a look at it. (To be clear I have no financial qualifications or interest in club administration. I am strictly a kicks and marks and goals and tackles man.)
Looking at the RFC annual report, the club got $3.9m last year from sponsorship. That buys a lot of footies and tackle bags. If we assume 75% of that comes from jumper sponsorship, then clean jumpers are going to cost three million dollars.
RFC got $6.4m from memberships, and $750,000 from merchandise sales. Will more people buy a non-sponsored jumper? Will more people sign up to the club? Will people pay 10% more for their memberships to be part of a club that values members above sponsors?
Because that is what I am really on about. I would want this move to be a symbol of a new Richmond that values its members and listens to what they have to say. That tries to embody what made the club great in earlier times. That is strong and bold and prepared to be different. Going back to my opening question of what members want, I suggest after success they want access and influence. We want to be able to communicate with the players without being treated like stalkers. We want a channel of feedback and response so we know the club has heard what we have to say.
The clean jumper is a maverick move, no doubt about it. No professional sports team that I can find in the world has ever turned it’s back on sponsorship on the uniform. Once advertising arrives it stays. (There are some examples of Championship clubs in the FA donating the space to charities for a season or a few games.) Of course there is more involved than the jumpers, apparently the boys all ‘drive home proud’ in their Bingle-insured Jeeps after games such as the 50 point loss to Essendon. So they’d probably have to take the train a la Riewoldt or maybe buy their own cars.
But think of the attention it would gain for the club! Think of the ‘First Adopter’ advantage. I can imagine fans of other clubs saying “I wish we had been the ones with the guts to do that”. The club is in a strong financial position right now but it’s culture is muddled and there feels like a disconnect between the club and the fans. On field we seem to be stuck in a 10 year loop of minor success, major face-plant. Strong and bold leadership is required. What have we got to lose at the moment?
Sometimes the one thing that grabs your attention in amongst all the noise is a bit of silence. Football has never been visually noisier – it’s a logo nightmare as this fantastic piece of work by John at Holy Boot’s Emporium shows.
Imagine if Richmond had something no-one else in footy could match – that is actually something that would attract sponsors. But they would be sponsors who understand there is more than one way to engage with a footy club, and to have a mutually beneficial partnership.
What if RFC could embrace the community and put the fans at the centre of the club for one year. They might find they don’t need to spend $2,867,546 on marketing and promotional activities like they did in the last financial year.
One year with no jumper sponsor, with slightly higher memberships. A player in that guernsey is representing Richmond and nothing else, not a car or a bank. After one year the CEO and the COO and the CFO etc can sit down and decide on a proper financial basis whether to continue. What do you think?
Chris says
I have written the following to the club;
Dear Tigers,
My name is Chris Rees, I am a 40-year supporter of the club. I have been thinking a lot lately about the situation the club is in. RFC seems to be in a very strong off-field position, but with inexplicable lack of success on-field.
I think this is the perfect time for the club to try something unusual, and original – strong and bold, in fact.
Once the current jumper sponsorship has run its course, the Tigers should play for one season in a clean, unsponsored jumper.
Nothing on the shorts, just an AFL logo on the shirt. The obvious loss of income may be overcome by increased membership numbers, merchandise sales and a cut back on marketing/promotional spend.
After one year the club, members and administration decide if this is something they want to persist with.
It would garner wide attention. I have not been able to find a single example of a sporting club worldwide who has spurned advertising on the uniform. Imagine if Richmond had something no-one else in footy could match – that is actually something that would attract sponsors. But they would be sponsors who understand there is more than one way to engage with a footy club, and to have a mutually beneficial partnership.
On your site Chris Newman says “When we were trying to determine a trademark that really meant something to us, we automatically thought the jumper was that thing,”. If its that important, why not claim it back? A player in that guernsey should be representing Richmond and nothing else, not a car or a bank.
Everything Newy says there is an argument in favour of an unsponsored jumper.
I can see fans of other clubs thinking “I wish we had had the guts to do that first”.
It will connect todays players to Hafey’s heroes and Captain Blood.
Given all the rigmarole the club made about “the sash is back” a few years ago, just think of what a splash it is going to make to announce this.
Will it win games? I’d be an idiot to claim that. But club culture is a powerful thing, and Richmond’s is under the microscope at the moment. This is a small symbolic change that says – when you pull this on, you are representing Jack Dyer and Francis Bourke and Jack Titus and Kevin Bartlett and all those legends who played and WON in this jumper. This is a PREMIERSHIP WINNERS jumper.
My full article about this is here
http://www.tigertigerburningbright.com.au/go-clean-in-2015/
Thanks for taking the time to listen.
Joe says
Fatman (Chris),
Brilliant idea. Never going to happen, but brilliant never the less. The club is currently flogging ‘retro’ footy jumpers through the Superstore (why does it have to be called that? – *sigh*). They look great. No logos anywhere other than the VFL logo and the old RFC logo. I agree wholeheartedly that the sash is the defining symbol of the club and having sponsor logos emblazoned all over it diminishes its effect. I have nothing at all against the sponsors we have, in fact, I am very grateful they support the club, I just wish they could do it without making the Tiges look like they are playing for London Harlequins. If the club asked current members if they would be willing to pay a little extra on their membership to have the team play in cleanskin jumpers I reckon they might be surprised by the response. Go Tiges.
Joe.
Chris says
Thanks pal. Yes, I can think of a million reason why it won’t happen. For one year all the people at the club whose role depends on sponsorship – getting it, keeping it, nurturing it – they are all in limbo.
It has sparked an interesting discussion on Reddit, and there is definitely a wide resentment out there about the commercialisation of every possible space, including audio, at games. (PS why was John Farnham broadcast around Etihad on Sunday night after the siren?) I sympathise with that but I want to focus on Richmond and creative ideas to fix whatever is wrong there.
$3.9 mil comes in for sponsorship and $2.9 mil goes out for “promotions and marketing” – I might be a bit of dummy but aren’t we a FOOTBALL club? The ME Bank Centre is very attractive but its not exactly a centre of football excellence.
A Carlton(!) fan on Reddit says “If I was rich I’d buy a tigers membership that year just to support the idea”
BillinKL says
I think that it is hilarious that OPSM sponsors those blind maggots – the umpires. Clearly no fringe benefits there!
BillinKL says
I don’t like corporations shanghai-ing historical occasions such as the the Toyota AFL Grand Final or the Emirates Melbourne cup. These events preceded those corporations and will certainly outlast the current sponsorship contracts – Toyota currently does not smell very rosey. Also the sponsor’s name inserted into every mention of the event or trophy is annoying and crass. As this, no doubt will be a continuing practice, I am looking forward to the Nobbie’s Nuts AFL Grand Finals.
Butterfly_Effect says
Barcelona FC went without sponsorship until recently. The members supported the club as per your proposal.
Joe Crawford says
BillinKL,
Yep. Agree entirely. Logos on everything drive me bonkers. I’ll tell you what also, absolutely, gives me the tom tits: effing stadium announcers!!! Quarter-time at the ‘G, all I want to do is talk to the people around me about the state of the game and drink beer. But no. What do we all have to put with? This:
‘IT’S GEELONG CATS 4.3.27 LEADING RICHMOND 2.1.13!!! AND REMEMBER EVERYONE IT”S NOW TIME TO WAVE YOUR ARMS AROUND LIKE MORONS IN THE PATHETIC HOPE OF GETTING YOUR MELON ON THE BIG SCREEN AND MAYBE WINNING A (insert name of company) SHOW BAG!!! WOOHOO!!!’
etc. etc. ad nauseum. It’s how I imagine footy would be if The Truman Show had AFL. I know what the effing score is. Just shut the eff up and let the people who have paid good money to attend the match just talk footy, or have a sulk, or pick our noses without having to compete against some galah yelling at us and playing ads at us at 10 million decibels. If I wanted all that rubbish I’d stay at home and watch it on the tele with the volume cranked up to MAX so I could enjoy BT’s witty repartee and ads about insurance and gambling.
Aaaarrrggghhh!!!
Go Tiges.
Joe.
James Taylor says
I totally agree with all the above.
However, I would like to correct the statement about Tetley sponsorship. Yes, the date is correct, 1980, but it wasn’t the first advertising we carried on our guernseys.
This dubious honour belongs to CUB whose logo ” adorned”.our jumpers from as early as 1977.
We were, I’m ashamed to admit, the first VFL club to feature sponsorship logos on club jumpers.
Go to the Naughty Corner, Tigers!